Valve Clearance Checking and Adjustment

[dvinell]

The manual says every 60k miles or 6 years ... "Inspect for excessive valve noise and/or engine vibration and adjust if necessary. Have an authorised Kia dealer perform the operation."

Posts on a Hyundai forum suggest that their 3.3L engine has the camshaft driving solid buckets, rather than having self-adjusting hydraulic lifters (as in every other car I have driven).
Would I be correct in assuming it's the same in the Stinger?
If so, I'm a little surprised by that ... I thought that solid valve buckets were for high-revving hot rod engines, not a general purpose GT.

Just checking them properly (not just listening) requires "removing the engine cover, the engine side cover, the air cleaner assembly, the surge tank, the cylinder head cover, and sliding a feeler gauge between the valve & seat 24 times."

If the clearances are out, this looks like a major operation, because you'd have to take off the covers, camshafts, and install the correct sized buckets (a bunch of different sizes are available).

I would say this is a good reason to be super-strict about changing the oil as recommended.

On the other hand, being a solid valve train, why would things drift out of adjustment, unless the valves are getting hammered into the head and you lose clearance, or there has been oil starvation?

Is this something I should stop worrying about?

http://www.gencoupe.com/general-discussion/452025-cost-checking-valve-clearance-60k-miles.html

 

[rooSTer]

The Stinger uses the same Lambda II T-GDi that was first in the 2015 Genesis G90 so yes its the same motor.

Solid valve train do require that you adjust the valve as part of the maintenance and not necessarily because of oil starvation.

 

[dvinell]

So how many hours labour (English spelling ) should I budget for if they did need adjustment?

 

[rooSTer]

So how many hours labour (English spelling ) should I budget for if they did need adjustment?

Judging from this manual for the Sorento, I would think it's a full days job.
http://www.ksmanual.com/valve_clearance_inspection_and_adjustment-233.html

 

[dvinell]

Judging from this manual for the Sorento, I would think it's a full days job.
http://www.ksmanual.com/valve_clearance_inspection_and_adjustment-233.html

That makes things a lot clearer.
Many thanks for the link.

 

[Bubbabiker]

I had my fill of shim under buckets valve adjustments with Kawasaki's GPz engines. Never again!

 

[dvinell]

I had my fill of shim under buckets valve adjustments with Kawasaki's GPz engines. Never again!

I don't think there are any shims - you just replace one bucket with a different sized one.

 

[mldavis2]

I would also think that such a check would not necessitate replacement. Most cam lobes I've seen over the years are almost perfect with timely oil changes. Only those where owners tried to stretch intervals had problems. (I was a GM-BMW-Subaru service manager in years past when Subaru had solid lifters, so I've seen a bunch of high-mileage cars used by postal carriers.)

On the other hand, this could be an excuse for dishonest service departments to rack up some huge bills for doing work that doesn't need to be done, or doing nothing but checking and charging for replacements. Be very careful.

 

[Bubbabiker]

I don't think there are any shims - you just replace one bucket with a different sized one.

Same process applies, the camshafts have to be removed to pull the buckets. Shims on top of buckets is a simpler solution, only a special tool is needed to depress the bucket and a magnet to extract the shim with the camshafts in place.

 

[Norskie]

I've done my share of valve clearance inspections and adjustments. Unless you've got something exotic like a Ducati or newer VFR the process is pretty straightforward, but having the space to work in is often the achilles heal.

I haven't seen anything modern use shim-over-bucket in a long time, probably because the shims are huge and add a lot of weight to the valve assembly. Shim-under-bucket is still common but just a bucket is gaining traction (again, less weight and space required). I suppose there are less parts in there to deal with too.

In my experience, the first valve inspection interval usually doesn't require an adjustment. Wear has nothing to do with oil, because it isn't the cam lobe / bucket surface that wears down, but rather the where the valve pounds into things, i.e. the back of the valve, the seat, and the end of the valve stem.

It's nice to see that Kia actually specifies an interval. Subaru doesn't but they should because they get set tight at the factory and the lean fueling burns the valves at around 130k ... proper inspections and adjustments would prevent that.